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Infected blood victims losing faith as inquiry hearings restart

The infected blood inquiry is holding two more days of hearings amid concerns about the government's response on compensation, with campaigners warning they are "losing faith".

It comes nearly a year after the final report was published into the scandal - said to be the biggest treatment disaster in the history of the NHS.

More than 30,000 people contracted HIV and hepatitis from contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 80s – and 3,000 people have since died.

Victims groups have since said the government has been slow to pay out compensation and the process was lacking transparency. Inquiry chair Sir Brian Langstaff said he had decided to act given the "gravity" of the problems expressed.

And a spokesperson said it was continuing to act on the inquiry's recommendations, adding: "The victims of this scandal have suffered unspeakably."

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Source: BBC News, 9 April 2025

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Infected blood transfusions killed 1,820 in UK, study estimates

An estimated 1,820 people died in the UK after being given contaminated blood transfusions between 1970 and 1991, a report has found.

The findings were published by the public inquiry into the scandal.

The long period between infection and symptoms appearing makes it difficult to know how many people were infected through a transfusion in the 1970s and 1980s, before it became possible to screen blood donations for the virus.

New modelling for the public inquiry estimated that between 21,300 and 38,800 people were infected after being given a transfusion between 1970 and 1991, with a central estimate of 26,800.

The study, by a group of 10 academics commissioned by the public inquiry, calculated that 1,820 of those died as a result, although the number could be as high as 3,320.

Its findings were based on the rate of hepatitis C infection in the population, the number of blood donations made over that time, the survival rate of the disease and other factors.

It found at least 79 and possibly up to 100 people also contracted HIV through donated blood, based on data provided by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), with most infections between 1985 and 1987.

It said 67 people in that group had now died, although there was no data confirming the causes of death.

The public inquiry into the infected blood scandal began taking evidence in 2019 and is expected to publish its final report in 2023.

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Source: BBC News, 17 September 2022

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Infected blood scandal: Victims to get £100,000 by end of month

About 4,000 UK victims of the infected blood scandal are to receive interim compensation payments of £100,000 by the end of this month.

It is being paid to those whose health is failing after developing blood borne viruses like hepatitis and HIV. It is also being paid to partners of people who have died.

Conan McIlwrath, from Larne in County Antrim, who is among the 100 or so victims affected in Northern Ireland said it was "very much welcomed".

"This is the first compensation that's ever been paid - anything prior has been support," he told BBC News NI.

All victims have campaigned for actual 'compensation' as they have said only this would acknowledge decades of physical and social injury, as well as loss of earnings and the cost of care.

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Source: BBC News, 22 October 2022

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Infected blood scandal: Sunak promises 'comprehensive' blood compensation

Rishi Sunak has promised to pay "comprehensive compensation" to people affected by the infected blood scandal.

The prime minister said the government would pay "whatever it costs" following a damning report on the scandal, external, which saw 30,000 people infected.

A public inquiry found authorities had exposed victims to unacceptable risks and covered up the NHS's biggest treatment disaster.

The government will set out compensation details on Tuesday.

Ministers have reportedly earmarked around £10bn for a compensation package.

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Source: BBC News, 21 May 2024

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Infected blood scandal: Hancock pledges payouts if advised by inquiry

Matt Hancock has said compensation will be paid to people people infected by contaminated blood products and their relatives if is recommended by the public inquiry into the scandal.

Appearing at the inquiry on Friday, the health secretary agreed the government had a “moral responsibility” to address what had happened.

As many as 30,000 people became severely ill after being given factor VIII blood products contaminated with HIV and hepatitis C imported from the US in the 1970s and 80s. Others were exposed to tainted blood through transfusions or after childbirth. On average one person is dying every four days, with approximately 3,000 haemophiliacs having died to date.

The government set up a support scheme offering ex-gratia payments without any admission of liability, but has been urged to create a compensation scheme.

The health secretary told the inquiry: “I respect the process of the inquiry and I will respect its recommendations, and should the inquiry’s recommendations point to compensation, then of course we will pay compensation, and Sir Robert Francis’s review on compensation is there in order that the government will be able to respond quickly to that.

“But it would be wrong to pre-empt the findings of the inquiry on that basis by me giving a policy recommendation in the middle of it.”

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Source: The Guardian, 21 May 2021

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Infected blood scandal: ex-pupils and relatives sue Hampshire school

A group of survivors and relatives of people who died in the infected blood scandal are suing a school where they contracted hepatitis and HIV after being given experimental treatment without informed consent.

A proposed group action lodged by Collins Solicitors in the high court on Friday alleges that Treloar College, a boarding school in Hampshire that specialised in teaching haemophiliacs, failed in its duty of care to these pupils in the 1970s and 80s.

The claim could result in a payout running into millions of pounds, and is based on new testimony given by former staff at the school to the ongoing infected blood inquiry.

Gary Webster, 56, a former pupil who was infected with hepatitis C and HIV after being treated with contaminated blood at the school in the early 80s and gave evidence to the inquiry last year, is the lead claimant of the 22 survivors in the group.

Speaking to the Guardian, he said: “We were lab rats or guinea pigs. We always thought that we may have been experimented on for research purposes, but we had no proof until the evidence given in the inquiry.”

Last year in testimony to the inquiry, the former headteacher of Treloars, Alec Macpherson, confirmed that doctors at the school were “experimenting with the use of factor VIII”, an imported pooled plasma that was later discovered to be contaminated with HIV and hepatitis.

He said he and other teaching staff did not question doctors about the trials. He told the inquiry: “We didn’t have any authority or reason to interfere. You can’t – doctors are god, aren’t they?”

Macpherson said he consented to the treatment because he trusted the doctors, and he could not recall if parents were informed and consulted.

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Source: The Guardian, 23 January 2022

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Infected blood scandal: Children were used as 'guinea pigs' in clinical trials

The true scale of the number of medical trials using infected blood products on children in the 1970s and 80s has been revealed by documents seen by BBC News.

They reveal a secret world of unsafe clinical testing involving children in the UK, as doctors placed research goals ahead of patients' needs.

They continued for more than 15 years, involved hundreds of people, and infected most with hepatitis C and HIV.

The trials involved children with blood clotting disorders, when families had often not consented to them taking part. The majority of the children who enrolled are now dead.

Documents also show that doctors in haemophilia centres across the country used blood products, even though they were widely known as likely to be contaminated.

Luke O'Shea-Phillips, 42, has mild haemophilia - a blood clotting disorder that means he bruises and bleeds more easily than most.

He caught the potentially lethal viral infection hepatitis C while being treated at the Middlesex Hospital, in central London, which was administered because of a small cut to his mouth, aged three, in 1985.

Documents seen by the BBC suggest he was deliberately given the blood product - which his doctor knew might have been infected - so he could be enrolled in a clinical trial.

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Source: BBC News, 18 April 2024

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Infected blood inquiry: study that said risk was seen as ‘tolerable’ omitted patient death

A study cited at the infected blood inquiry as evidence that the devastating consequences of blood products contaminated with hepatitis could not have been foreseen, misrepresented the results of a trial in making its case, according to the Guardian.

Up to 6,520 people are believed to have been infected with hepatitis C through imported factor VIII blood products in the 1970s and 80s, while a further 26,800 are estimated to have been infected with the virus though blood transfusions. About 2,000 people are estimated to have died as a result.

The inquiry, which publishes its final report on 20 May, heard that the medical profession considered non-A and non-B hepatitis (later known as hepatitis C) as “relatively benign” at the time, with Pier Mannuccio Mannucci’s 2003 paper, 'Aids, hepatitis and haemophilia in the 1980s: memoirs from an insider', quoted in support of this proposition. 

Mannucci’s 2003 paper argued that the view held by “the great majority of haemophilia treaters was that the problem of hepatitis was a tolerable one, because the benefits of concentrates seemed to outweigh risks”.

In making his argument, Mannucci cited his own work, writing: “A prospective biopsy study was undertaken by me … in 10 haemophiliacs with non-A, non-B chronic hepatitis followed up for more than six years. The study, published in 1982, demonstrated no case of progression towards cirrhosis or haepatocellular carcinoma.”

However, the original 1982 report says that there were actually 11–not 10–people included in the study and “one patient with active cirrhosis died of liver failure during the follow-up period”.

Who knew what about the risks and when is a key plank of the inquiry.

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Source: Guardian, 2 May 2024

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Infected Blood Inquiry: Man 'not told of Aids diagnosis for 18 months'

A man who was treated with imported blood products in the 1980s became the first haemophiliac in the UK to test HIV positive and die of Aids, an inquiry has heard.

Kevin Slater, from Cwmbran, was 20 when he developed Aids in 1983 the Infected Blood Inquiry has been told. He was not informed that he had been diagnosed with the condition for at least 18 months and died in 1985. Records show it was recommended that the diagnosis be kept from him.

The UK-wide inquiry is looking into what has been described as the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS.

Haemophilia is a blood condition which affects the clotting of blood in those affected. In the 1980s some of the blood products used to treat the condition were infected with HIV.

The inquiry heard there were about 100 haemophiliac patients in Wales at the time.

Mr Slater's sister-in-law Lynda Maule said she does not believe he was ever told he had Aids.

"He was treated disgustingly," she told the inquiry. "There was no care, nothing.

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Source: BBC News, 2 February 2021

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Infected blood inquiry: Five things we have learned

A long-running public inquiry into what has been called the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS will hear its final evidence on Friday.

It is thought tens of thousands were infected with HIV and hepatitis between 1970 and 1991 after being given a contaminated drug or blood transfusion.

The inquiry, which started in 2018, has reviewed thousands of documents and heard testimony from 370 witnesses.

A total of 1,250 people with haemophilia and other bleeding disorders contracted HIV after being given a protein made from blood plasma known as Factor VIII.

About half of that group later died of an Aids-related illness.

Researchers found that 380 of those infected with HIV - about one in three - were children, including some very young toddlers.

One of the key questions the inquiry will now have to answer is whether more could and should have been done to prevent those infections and deaths.

Hundreds of victims of the scandal have received annual support payments but - before this inquiry - no formal compensation had ever been awarded for loss of earnings, care costs and other lifetime losses

Further recommendations on compensation are expected when the inquiry publishes its final report, which is likely to be around the middle of the year.

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Source: BBC News, 3 February 2023

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Infected Blood Enquiry: Timetable and factsheet for expert hearings

This is the independent public statutory inquiry into the use of infected blood. 

The timetable and factsheet to provide information for those attending the hearings in London on 24-28 February have just been published.

Go to this link for more information >> https://www.infectedbloodinquiry.org.uk/news 

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Infant mortality rate in Northern Ireland is the worst in the UK, report finds

Northern Ireland's infant mortality rate remains the highest of any UK region although it has decreased, according to a new report.

Infant mortality is a measure of deaths of children under one year of age. The report from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) shows the current rate is 4.2 deaths per 1,000 live births. In 2017, the figure stood at 4.8 deaths.

Infant mortality rates decreased in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales but remained unchanged in England, which has the second highest rate of 3.9 deaths per 1,000.

The report also highlights an increase in the suicide rate among young people aged 15–24 years.

Responding to the figures, Health Minister Robin Swann said the physical and mental health of children and young people was a "priority" for the for the Northern Ireland Executive.

"My department is already investing in a number of programmes and strategies which seek to address child health inequalities and improve the wellbeing of our children."

Dr Ray Nethercott, RCPCH officer for Ireland acknowledged the current healthcare crisis as well as concerns about waiting lists and standard of care but added that "children's health and wellbeing should not be seen as being in competition with adult services or health provision".

"Acting early to treat and prevent conditions, and reducing the impact of factors such as poverty, can really improve health outcomes. A healthier population of children and young people will reduce many of the pressures on adult services in the long term."

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Source: BBC News, 4 March 2020

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Infant mortality in Birmingham 'not openly discussed'

Infant mortality is not "openly discussed" among some communities, a charity worker in Birmingham said, as the city attempts to tackle a long-standing problem.

For the last decade, Birmingham has had one of the highest rates of infant mortality in England. The city council has set up a taskforce in a bid to halve the number of deaths.

It heard rates were highest in deprived areas and among Black, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi heritage families.

Shabana Qureshi is the women wellbeing manager for the Ashiana Community Project, a charity which works to improve quality of life for those living in Sparkbrook.

Figures from the 2011 census show 87% of its population identified as being from an ethnic group other than White British, with the largest ethnic group being Pakistani. Many of women she works with, she said "don't know how to ask the right questions" and so are "not informed" about issues.

Many people in the communities they work with, she said, have low education levels and are more likely to suffer with maternity health issues, but find it difficult to access services.

"[Infant mortality] is not something that is discussed openly," she said.

"A lot of women live within extended families and are sometimes not aware of the risks, they live with these conditions and health inequalities."

She said any services which hope to tackle these problems need to involve communities, and be designed to be relatable, culturally sensitive and maintain trust.

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Source: BBC News, 22 April 2021

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Inequalities responsible for thousands of adverse birth outcomes in black and Asian women

Socioeconomic inequalities account for an estimated quarter of stillbirths, fifth of preterm births, and a third of births with fetal growth restriction, according to a study published in the Lancet of over one million births in England

The nationwide study across England’s NHS was carried out by the National Maternity and Perinatal Audit team, who analysed birth records between April 2015 and March 2017 to quantify socioeconomic and ethnic inequalities in pregnancy outcomes.

They found that an estimated two thirds (63.7%) of stillbirths and half (55.0%) of births with fetal growth restriction in black women from the most deprived neighbourhoods could be avoided if this population had the same risks as white women living in the most affluent 20% of neighbourhoods.

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Source: BMJ, 2 November 2021

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Indigestible and illegible: the sorry state of board safety reports

A report highlights that maternity and neonatal services are often regular agenda items at board meetings, but the quality and quantity of information that is presented and the subsequent discussion (or lack thereof) doesn’t lead to effective oversight.

The shocking and distressing stories emerging from the Lucy Letby case in August 2023 shone a light on the “cover-up culture” in the NHS. Although deliberate harming of babies is thankfully exceedingly rare, some of the issues raised in this case echo concerns that trusts are failing to react to signs of poor performance in maternity and neonatal services.

Responsibility ultimately lies with trust boards which have a statutory duty to ensure the safety of care. However, the actions (or inactions) of leadership have come up frequently in inquiries and reviews.

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Source: HSJ, 7 November 2023

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Indian medics step up strike in protest at doctor’s rape and murder

All hospital services in India except for emergency care will shut down on Saturday as doctors escalate their protest over the rape and murder of a colleague by calling for a nationwide strike.

A strike that doctors started on Monday was more limited, affecting only government hospitals and elective surgeries. The one on Saturday, called by the Indian Medical Association, will cause massive disruption for 24 hours. All outpatient services and treatment in government and private hospitals will be cancelled.

Dr Johnrose Jayalal, the president of the association, said public anger was so high that the association felt compelled to intensify the strike – thought to be the biggest in a decade – to force the government to act. “Look, 50% of doctors are women, 90% of nursing staff are women. We want the government to take responsibility for ensuring their safety by declaring hospitals as protection zones [with security measures], just like airports and the courts,” he said.

Jayalal added that doctors were deeply concerned over the safety of female doctors and rising levels of violence generally against all doctors by patients’ families. There have been cases of doctors being beaten up when a patient has died.

A 31-year-old doctor was raped and murdered last week in a seminar room at RG Kar hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal, when she went to rest at night during a long shift. A man who worked informally at the hospital has been arrested and charged with the crime.

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Source: The Guardian, 16 August 2024

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India's frontline health workers fight for better pay and recognition

Thousands of frontline healthcare workers in southern India's Kerala state, who have been holding demonstrations for the past month seeking better pay and recognition, have vowed to continue their protest.

Kerala's 26,225 female workers, known as Accredited Social Health Activists or Ashas (Hindi for hope), have been holding protests near the state government headquarters in the capital city of Thiruvananthapuram.

The protesters, who provide crucial medical support in the country's rural areas, say they plan to "lay siege" to the state secretariat in the coming week, if authorities continue to ignore their demands.

The Ashas, who number more than a million across the country, are fighting for better salaries and for official "worker" status.

The women are currently categorised as volunteers, which means they are not guaranteed any benefits from the government, despite playing a crucial role in delivering healthcare in rural and underserved areas.

In a country where millions of Indians, especially in the remote areas, do not have access to quality healthcare, the Asha workers have played a vital role over the years.

Their job involves going door-to-door to raise awareness about nutrition, sanitation, immunisation and providing neonatal and antenatal care, among other things.

They played a crucial role during the Covid pandemic, especially in Kerala which was first to report a Covid case, and have been credited for successfully containing outbreaks of Zika and Nipah viruses.

Dr Joe Thomas, a Melbourne-based public health policy analyst, believes India should change its perception of these community health workers whose contribution to primary health is universally recognised.

These workers are doing the job of midwives in Kerala after the state's health authorities froze recruitment of midwives, he told the BBC. "The maternity care support has slowly been shifted to Ashas."

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Source: BBC News, 13 March 2025

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India: When a ‘never event’ hits a patient

A young woman was left with a retained foreign object, after surgery in an India hospital. A checklist could have avoided her death. The response from the health officials was: “We have issued a show-cause notice to the staff seeking an explanation. We will initiate departmental action based on their replies and finding of our inquiry.”

In the fields of healthcare quality and patient safety, such punitive measures of “naming and shaming” have not worked.

T.S. Ravikumar, President, AIIMS Mangalagiri, Andhra Pradesh, moved back to India eight years ago with the key motive to improve accountability and safety in healthcare delivery. He believes that we have a long way to go in reducing “preventable harm” in hospitals and the health system in general.  "We need to move away from fixing blame, to creating a 'blame-free culture' in healthcare, yet, with accountability. This requires both systems design for safe care and human factors engineering for slips and violations".

"Providing safe care without harm is a 'team sport', and we need to work as teams and not in silos, with mutual respect and ability to speak up where we observe any deviation or non-compliance with rules, says Ravikumar. Basic quality tools and root-cause analysis for adverse events must become routine. Weekly mortality/morbidity conferences are routine in many countries, but not a routine learning tool in India.

He proposes acceleration of the recent initiative of the DGHS of the Government of India to implement a National Patient Safety Framework, and set up an analytical “never events” or sentinel events reporting structure.

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Source: The Hindu, 12 January 2020

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India trains thousands of medics to promote vaccine in huge push to end cervical cancer

Tens of thousands of doctors across India are being trained to promote the HPV vaccine, in a push to eliminate cervical cancer in the country.

They will check with mothers attending medical appointments that they intend to vaccinate their daughters, and visit schools and community centres armed with facts and slideshows to counter vaccine disinformation.

One in five cervical cancer cases worldwide occur in India – and the overwhelming majority of those are caused by the human papillomavirus, or HPV.

HPV vaccination has become routine practice in many countries and has been available in India privately since 2008, but with low take-up.

Sutapa Biswas, co-founder of the Cancer Foundation of India, said imported vaccines were expensive and people were reluctant to spend money on prevention. Misinformation surrounding deaths during, but unrelated to, an HPV vaccine trial in the country had left it with “baggage”, she said.

However, India has recently started manufacturing its own cervical cancer vaccine, and the government is expected to make it part of the national vaccination programme later this year or early next year.

Last year about 11,000 members of the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (Fogsi) underwent virtual training. About 100 of those trainees have now become the National HPV Faculty and will each train 500 general physicians from the Indian Medical Association over the next six months.

The idea, Biswas said, “is to build confidence”. Training includes practical information on dosages, details of the World Health Organization’s push to eliminate cervical cancer, and advice on how to answer common questions.

The implementation of India’s cervical screening programme had been sluggish, she said. Most cancers are diagnosed late, and most people’s experiences of the disease relate to death.

Many non-specialist doctors “didn’t even know that a cancer could be eliminated and vaccination could be such a gamechanger”, Biswas said.

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Source: The Guardian, 1 April 2025

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Independent sector model ‘inherently risky’, says CQC

The care model run by independent sector mental health and learning disability hospitals is ‘inherently risky’, a Care Quality Commission (CQC) chief inspector has warned.

Speaking at the NHS Providers conference, Ted Baker, chief inspector of hospitals for the Care Quality Commission, unveiled the regulator’s plans to change how it inspects health and care services.

When asked by HSJ how its new “streamlined” approach would be applied to inpatient units run by the independent sector for people with mental health and learning disability, Professor Baker said: ”One of the things we’ve been doing during the pandemic, and will continue in our transitional approach, is target risk. And one of the risks we have been targeting is exactly this, patients with learning disability and/or autism in some of these small units that have got closed cultures."

“I think we do recognise that model of care is an inherently risky model of care and so we have been inspecting many of those under this risk driven model and taking action against many of them.

But there is ongoing concern about that model of care and in a few weeks’ time we will be publishing a report on our assessment of that model of care and the importance of it being changed for the benefit of the people being looked after. The model of care needs to be improved but we need to make sure we are tackling the risk.”

The chief’s comments come ahead of the regulator’s state of care report, which is due to be published next week.

In its report published last year the CQC highlighted a concern regarding the quality and safety of independent learning disability and autism units. In particular it warned these were at a higher risk of developing closed cultures. 

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Source: HSJ, 7 October 2020)

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Independent providers ‘prioritising private patients over NHS’

Sources have indicated that with staff shortages, including doctors who work in the NHS, in some areas the private sector is prioritising patients who are insured or self-paying, according to the HSJ. 

A report from the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group has said that the health system was aiming to use the independent sector to reduce waiting lists, however, there are staff limitations there as well, meaning they have to reduce the amount of capacity they could provide to the NHS.

“Amongst a range of initiatives, the Dorset healthcare system is increasing the use of independent providers to help reduce waiting lists, however in common with other providers they are facing their own limitations in terms of capacity and staffing.” A spokesman for the CCG has said. 

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Source: HSJ, 10 August 2021

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Independent inquiry to examine maternity care after deaths at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust

A new independent inquiry has been launched after reports of mother and baby deaths at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust.

According to patient safety minister Nadine Dorries, the inquiry will be led externally and will be examining cases going back to 2016. 

The review has been welcomed by families but they have said they want to be fully involved in the process including setting the terms of reference and making sure it is a truly independent inquiry. 

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Source: The Independent, 13 July 2021

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Increasing physical health check coverage for those with serious mental illness

City and Hackney Clinical Commissioning Group might have the fifth highest prevalence of serious mental illness in England, but last year it achieved the highest physical health check coverage in the country.

This was down to a collaborative approach by the CCG, local trust, GPs, heath informatics, a voluntary sector exercise and diet specialist organisation, and service users themselves.

This alliance model for primary care SMI physical health was named mental health innovation of the year at the HSJ awards.

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Source: HSJ, 20 March 2020

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